Rhode Island Local Ag & Seafood Act Grant (LASA)

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Agriculture awarded $95,949 in grants in 2019 to 12 local agriculture and food businesses under the Local Agriculture and Seafood Act Grant Program. The goal of the program, which was established by the Local Agriculture and Seafood Act (LASA) of 2012, is to support the growth, development, and marketing of local food and seafood in Rhode Island. It is made possible by funding from the State of Rhode Island.

Project priorities for the 2019 LASA Grants Program were:

• Supporting the entry, growth, and/or sustainability of small or beginning agriculture producers (including aquaculture producers) and fishermen/women;

• Fostering new cooperatives, partnerships, and/or collaborations among Rhode Island producers and producer-supporting organizations;

• Supporting new products or new sales channels with clearly defined markets, including institutional purchasing of local food;

• Protecting the future availability of agricultural land for producers, including farm transition planning and implementation;

• Relation to activities identified in Rhode Island’s Food Strategy Relish Rhody.

Applicants must be based in the State of Rhode Island. Eligible entities include for-profit farmers, fishermen/women, producer groups, and non-profit organizations however only small and/or beginning farmers, or producer groups of small or beginning farmers, and aquaculture operators are eligible to apply for capital grants

Ineligible activities include non-project related travel, scholarships, general operating funds, on-going capital campaigns, political or policy advocacy campaigns, conference/workshop attendance fees, etc.

All costs associated with developing or submitting a proposal in response to this request, or with providing oral or written clarification of proposal content, are ineligible expenses and shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant. The State assumes no responsibility for these costs.

Projects may be up to 24 months in duration. Grantees are responsible for interim and final reports. Interim reports are due after 1 year and final reports are due after 2 years from signing of grant agreement. Any grantees who do not provide timely interim and final grant reports will be ineligible for future LASA Grant Program funding.

Funding Priorities

The LASA Advisory Committee sets priorities each grant year and makes recommendations to the Director of the RIDEM. Project priorities for the 2020-2021 LASA Grants Program are:

• Supporting the entry, growth, and/or sustainability of small or beginning agriculture producers (including aquaculture producers) and fishermen/women. Additionally, supporting farmers and fishers that are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).

• AND/OR Support the entry, growth, and/or sustainability of small or beginning agriculture producers

• AND/OR Foster new cooperatives, partnerships, and/or collaborations among Rhode Island producers and producer-supporting organizations.

• AND/OR Support capacity building for new products or new sales channels with clearly defined markets, assistance with farmers/ fishers adapting to new methods of selling to customers (online, home delivery, shipping), diversification of market channels and development of more on farm processing capacity.

• AND/OR Protect the future availability of agricultural land for producers, including farm transition planning and implementation.

• AND/OR Assistance with on farm Food Safety improvements assistance, including the developing of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans, Food Safety Plans and compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

• AND/OR Foster and build capacity for markets connecting local farms and fishers with Rhode Island’s food insecure communities.

Application Submission

Please note that the application is provided in SurveyMonkey. Applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Sunday, June, 13. We recommend that you look at the questions and prepare your short answer responses and any additional documents for attachments ahead of time -- before you begin to fill out the application. You may download the PDF version and use it as a guide for creating a Word document. If you prepare answers in a word processing program such as Word, you should be able to copy and paste your answers into SurveyMonkey.

Please see the LASA Grant Request for Proposals (RFP) before submitting your application.